Paint Me Vibrant Colors
by Piano'sIrishTater
Summary: Gilbert has spent his whole life trapped in the dark confines of his family's Masonic village, a slate of unaccepting greys and blacks isolating him and bringing him down. However, a chance childhood encounter with a neighboring Druid boy could be the key to unlocking a multihued palate far beyond his comprehension, one that could do away with the darkness forever.
1. Red-Eyed Demon

It was a simple village that lay tucked snuggly between the crests of the black-tipped hills, hiding away amidst obscuring fog that gave it a certain air of mystery and bone-chilling fear. Though those among the inhabitants of the place sat under skies that were constantly gray, travelers around the village were always treated to a beautiful sunset that sent scores of living orange-pink smears crisscrossing through the very atmosphere atop the town, which continued to lay unbeknownst to anyone who had not been born there. And those who had been rarely left the safe haven of smoke they believed to be their entire world, except on occasion for the men who gathered necessary supplies in the next valley a few times a year. They were tightknit, hardworking, and highly religious, called Free Masons due to their role as creators who could build nearly anything they pleased. With power so great, they had become widespread and scattered their empire throughout the world…at first without opposition.

However, strength and imperialism could only last so long without interruption.

The winter had been mild up to this point, but it seemed that the intense cold had arrived along with the labor of the village leader's wife, her cries of pain the only sound in the silence of the early, snow-blanketed January morning. The birth was two months premature and quite unexpected for the members belonging to this Masonic village, who had all been sleeping soundly before their leader had slammed his fist against each door looking for a doctor or midwife to help, but they had all roused willingly enough to help welcome this new little one into the world. None had expected the birth would be so difficult and long, with both mother and child struggling to keep their lives and fight away fever after a day and a half of trying to get the poor baby out. And absolutely no one had expected the child would be born with such a disturbing physical appearance.

The child, a son weighing just three pounds, peered out at his new world with irises the shade of newly shed blood and hair the shade of the new-fallen snow outside. His gasping breaths were frantic, his nearly translucent skin flushed darkly with sickness as he cried out. The entirety of those who had helped with the birth watched nervously to see their leader's reaction to his child's anomaly, watched as he cradled the sobbing infant in his arms carefully before passing him off to the village doctor with a gruff, furious noise and signing the trinity across his chest. He reached out to hold his wife's hand as she attempted to sit up, her eyes unfocused and hectic as she spoke.

"Gilbert," she insisted before falling back onto the pillow. "His name…is…Gilbert."

A few days later, she passed away, determined that her son's legacy would carry on in her place.

Gilbert was a sickly child, much to his father's dismay, and his nose was almost constantly running from some kind of virus that he had caught with his weak immune system. Each day of his life for the first six years, he toddled through the village hand in hand with a man who hated him… though he himself was too young to be aware that a dad could hold anything but love for their own child. However, the people of the town saw how their leader looked down at the boy with contempt, saw that he was displeased with the weak link that he had created and lost his wife to. The child was a living representation of the death of the woman he had loved and every dimpled smile Gilbert gave was a cut into his father's heart. Of course Gilbert, naïve and unknowing, just kept on grinning, even when his father wasn't around…which was a lot.

Today was one of those days, and Gilbert was out on his own, jumping in the puddles left from the rain of the day before as he hopped down the street alone. As usual, his nose was dripping and his thumb was in his mouth, the gray hair atop his head in total disarray. He liked stepping on his reflection and watching his face distort with ripples until he didn't even look like a person anymore, just a blob of white and red mixed together. He giggled, stepping his tiny booted foot over and over into the water in front of him. A bell from the middle of the town echoed into the desolate day; the other village children walked around him on their way to school, sneering at him like they always had, but he followed after them anyway, even though his dad had told him not to.

"Quit following us, dummy," one of the little kids, Elizaveta, yelled, picking up a pebble and throwing it at him with a laugh. "You don't get to go to school because you're so dumb!"

Gilbert flinched, pulling his thumb out of his mouth. "I'm not dumb!" he retaliated, struggling to think of something he could say to hurt the girl back and coming up blank. "I-I'm…awesome! And you're… not!"

But Elizaveta just laughed at him again. "We all know you're stupid, so I don't know why you think you aren't!"

"Because I'm not! I'm super smart! Like, the smartest person ever! You're just jealous because I have such a big, super smart brain and you have a little dumb girly brain!" Gilbert stuck his tongue out at her, satisfied with what he had accomplished.

She frowned. "I don't have a girly brain. I'm a boy…unlike you!"

Before he could laugh at her more, Gilbert's cousin Roderick walked in between them, giving Gilbert a superior, judgmental look as he took Elizaveta's hand. "What are you doing here, peasant? You know you aren't supposed to come to school with us. Come on, Elizaveta. Let's go and leave this baby to play in puddles all day."

"Yeah! Play in puddles all day, you freak!" she agreed, making a face at him before skipping away with Roderick.

Gilbert stared after them angrily before shoving his thumb back into his mouth, and letting a bit of airy laughter seep out from between his teeth. "They're the stupid ones. They smell like boogers. Big, icky butt boogers!" Mumbling to himself, he wandered into the darkness of the forest, completely ignoring the path that had been clearly marked for those who left the village. He had already decided that one day, he was going to build a huge, awesome castle in the trees and live there all alone with no one else. Then he wouldn't be made fun of anymore, he could play all the time, and he could teach himself to read books, and spend every day drawing pictures of the friends he'd created.

Now he just had to find the perfect tree to build it in.

"Hmm, this one! No, this one! I like this one because it's the tallest! That other one, it was too small, but this one is awesome! Kind of like me, only bigger and more covered in leaves!"

This was where he would hide for hours, contemplating in peace what he wanted to do with his life, what he wanted to be when he grew up. He'd already decided on an awesomely sexy knight that people would bow down before and worship….but he was also thinking about a firefighter, too. He was still debating. Sometimes he would get lost for hours in the trees and his mind, eventually finding his way out of the darkness by walking forward until he emerged again, back in the village where the mist always clung and the sky was always gray. There was no sunshine here; just abysmal monotone, lifeless shades. The brightest color around was the violent red of Gilbert's eyes.

Just like every other day, he walked until his feet met the cobblestones of his hometown. Always, the fun of the day was consumed by the dread of having to go home and eat supper with the new family his dad had created almost a year ago. He was still nervous around the blonde-haired woman that had insisted he call her 'Mom' even though she wasn't his mom, and the little brother they had created for Gilbert was stinky and never smiled. Gilbert had thought that babies smiled a lot and were funny, but all Ludwig did was sleep. He never even cried, the weirdo. The only thing Gilbert knew for sure was that Ludwig was the child that his dad had wanted all along, not some sick, weak, Albino son that was good for nothing. He'd heard his dad say so to Ludwig himself when he cradled him in his arms before bed.

Giving his thumb a small bite, Gil opened the door with his other hand and went inside, pushing his way through the dogs that surrounded him with lolling tongues and wagging tails. He giggled when they licked his face as he sat down in the entrance way to pull off his rain boots, hugging onto their fluffy necks before moving to put away his coat, too. His step-mother hated when things weren't clean and had spanked him when he'd refused to hang up his jacket at first. Shuddering at the thought, he sniffled up the snot dripping down his nose and sneaked past his dad's room, hurrying to climb into his bed. Of course they knew he had been out adventuring, but he liked to pretend that they actually missed him during the day.

A split second later, his father threw the door open with the order, "Gilbert. Come to supper," before disappearing back into the hallway.

Clutching his blanket between his fingers and a dinosaur toy in the other, he made his way to the table, giving Ludwig and his stepmom an egotistical smile as he sat down. "I have a dinosaur," he told them proudly, making the stegosaurus crawl across his plate. "Raaaaawr!"

"What did I tell you about bringing toys to the table?" his dad growled, setting the chicken platter down. "Go put it back. And wash your hands and face while you're at it. They're filthy."

"I want to play…" Gilbert mumbled defiantly, picking at the loose plastic on the toy's leg and not meeting his father's angry eyes.

"Right now it is time to eat. We do not play at the dinner table. Now put the toy back so that we can pray, Gilbert." His patience was slipping, that much was obvious by the vein starting to bulge in his head.

Jutting his bottom lip out, Gilbert shoved away from the table and put his stegosaurus back, stopping on the way back to wipe his mud-encrusted hands all over his dad's bathrobe spitefully. Satisfied, he went back to the table and took his parents' hands with the sweetest smile he could manage. His stepmom said grace, all the time glaring at the wiggly six year old that just couldn't seem to sit still long enough to listen to a minute-long prayer. Even Ludwig was still as his mother reached the "amen", and started dishing out the food. Slowly and meticulously, they started eating their meals with the perfection of the wealthy; Gilbert however immediately started shoveling the food into his mouth like a starving orphan, not taking time to be neat and prissy like them.

"Gilbert," his dad chided through his teeth. "Do you want to be punished? Eat normally, please."

"But I am!" he protested, licking the potatoes off of his nose. "Like a normal wild animal. I'm going to live in the forest and play with all the other animals and-"

The dad's large hand slammed down onto the table, Gilbert flinching back in his chair fearfully. "I've had enough of your nonsense. You are not to play in the streets or the forest for a week, and I will be adding a few things onto your chores. Honestly, I don't understand why you can't seem to comprehend the simplest of commands…Speaking of which, someone informed me that you tried to follow the other children to school again. Is this true?"

He shook his head. "I wasn't following…the smelly girly one-I mean, the Elizaveta one- threw a stone at my awesomeness!"

His dad blinked. "Excuse me? Your…awesomeness?" Recovering, he sighed. "Regardless, you know the other children will bully you, so stop playing right in the street where they go, alright? Play somewhere less…visible. After you are done being grounded, of course. You'll be spending the next few days in the house or at the stream doing some laundry."

So for the next week, Gilbert was stuck inside with nothing to do except clean the house and get yelled at. His only time of freedom was when a tiny basket of his clothes was thrust into his hands and he had to waddle his way to the stream to wash them. Then, he could daydream as he stared at the forest, dream about being an animal and travelling wherever he wanted to. Being stuck here was no fun. One day, he vowed, he would escape this place where everyone thought he was a stupid weirdo baby and never, ever, for never ever come back here to this stupid misty village again. He would make real friends, and see sunshine for the first time in his life. Clutching the basket closer as he sat down on the bank of the water, he stared into his reflection again.

He was different. But what was wrong with being different? Difference was awesome. Nobody was the same, so why was he the only one who got pebbles thrown at him, or called names, or shoved down into the mud? He sniffed up his snot once again, frowning, and started throwing his clothes into the water, watching with fascination as the current took them up and carried them away. Impatiently, he waited for the clothes to come back, sticking his feet in and staring down where they had gone. After a few minutes, he jumped into the water altogether, not really caring that he was now soaked to the bone in frigid river. If he didn't get his clothes back, his dad would yell at him again. He was going to be in huge trouble. That scary thought driving him forward, he splashed his way downstream.

"Clothes! Clothes? Where are you?" he yelled, trying to pick up rocks and look under them. "It's okay…I'm not going to hurt you. I promise I won't spank you if you come back right now. And I'll give you yummy candies and hug you! Don't be scared. Don't be scared. Don't be-"

A rush of water surged around Gilbert, knocking him off his feet and dragging him a few feet away into the deeper water. Struggling to the surface, he gasped for air before being yanked under again, the icy water invading his lungs as he tried to scream for help. His cries were silent in the blackness, the only thing he could see the bubbles rising all around him in the monotone slate of his village. Flailing his arms about, he groped his hands to grab onto something or pull himself up somehow, but there was nothing but water, water, water…he couldn't think, couldn't breathe anymore. Dizziness and exhaustion overcame him as he continued to feebly fight against the swirling eddies that tossed his body like a ragdoll, and he eventually stilled as he grew warmer, too tired to try anymore. Just as he gave up and succumbed, something took hold of his shirt from the back, hauling him forcefully upward.

The moment he surfaced, he spewed water everywhere, coughing and crying as he lay down in what felt like soft grass. He sucked the sweet air desperately, keeping his eyes closed and shivering wildly, too afraid to open them and see his savior. He wanted to go home for the first time in his life, where he was safe even if he wasn't wanted. Would his dad be sad that he'd almost drowned…. Or happy? The thought made him cry even harder, made him cough louder, made it harder to breathe. He would probably just be sad that he had lived. After all, he already had a better son. He didn't need Gilbert anymore. A cold unlike any other seeped into his skin, gooseflesh springing up across his arms and causing his body to spasm with uncontrollable trembling.

"Is he breathing?" a woman asked, temporarily distracting Gilbert from his pain.

"Uh-huh," said a small, quiet voice, right beside Gil. "He's breathing, but he's sick."

A warm hand stroked back Gilbert's messy hair, the skin soft and comforting. "Poor baby must have fallen into the river trying to do his laundry. He's so incredibly pale…" Gilbert stirred at her comment. "Can you hear me, child? If you can, please open your eyes and reassure me that you weren't severely injured."

Tentatively, he opened one of his lids and immediately shut it again as a bright, unfamiliar light assaulted his unsuspecting face. His hands went to his injury and he made a noise of discomfort, rubbing at the strange feeling that was spreading through his eyeballs. "Owie…I can't see," he complained to the woman. "It hurts my eyes…"

She laughed, taking his tiny hands in hers and bringing them away from his face. "Well, he's definitely okay. Thank goodness! What's your name, little Mason?"

Slowly and carefully, Gilbert peeled his eyelid back, the assaulting light still stabbing at him sharply as he fought to regain his vision. "I am the awesome Gilbert! Bow down before me!" Sucking in a breath, he opened both eyes and blinked repeatedly, looking around in confusion. Where was he? A field, for sure, but what were these…these colors? He'd never seen so many different shades of red and there were even blues and yellows and greens and oranges. These flowers were unfamiliar, not the old, dead vines that clung to windows and walls, growing without a known source across the dull bricks of the buildings. They sprung up everywhere in the evergreen grasses, blowing in a wind that seemed to have a hint of music to it. Even the sky here….it was baby blue, with puffy white clouds billowing in it! And that bright light had been the sun Gilbert had sworn he would see, shining down upon everything and giving it life.

Mystified, he gaped at his surroundings for a moment before turning to the people beside him. One was clearly the grown woman who had saved him, with long strawberry-blonde hair entwined into intricate braids across her shoulders. Her eyes were a bluish-purple color and she was looking at him with a sweet smile that he had never encountered before. Kneeling beside him, she pushed the skirts of her billowing, violet dress away and held out her hand. Suspicious, he stared at it and turned to the other person, who was hiding quietly behind the woman. He looked a lot like she did, except he was Gilbert's age, his eyes were purely blue, and he wasn't smiling at all. He looked scared instead, or maybe he was suspicious of Gilbert as Gil was of him. Their eyes locked, the two young boys stuck in a strange stare-off, until the woman gave a small laugh.

"Gilbert, you say? Well, I'm Emily, and this is my son, Matthew. Say hello!"

Gilbert puffed himself up, ready for the boy to insult him. After all, that's what all the other kids did. Why would it be any different this time? Instead, Matthew gave a shy wave, his cheeks growing pink. Gilbert gazed back uncertainly. What…? Why wasn't he picking on him? Couldn't he see the weird gray hair and blood red eyes like everybody else could? Didn't he want to kick dirt at him or throw rocks? Apparently he didn't, or maybe he didn't care about the way Gil looked; the cloaked boy just smiled back at him, all cute and dimply, with absolutely no animosity. He relaxed his stance, confused but relieved. This was a good person! He flashed Matthew a return grin, nearly going beside himself with joy when the other boy came out from behind his mom.

"I like you," Gilbert announced, placing a hand on Matthew's face. "Be my friend!"

Matthew looked back uncertainly to his mom. She gave a quick nod, motioning at him to go ahead, so he put his hand on Gilbert's face, too. "Okay," he agreed. "Friends."

Gilbert looked at Matthew's mom, dropping his hand from his new playmate's face. "Thank you for saving me," he muttered sheepishly, kicking the grass at his feet.

"Of course, sweetheart," she said, scooping up the basket of his clothes into her arms. "Now, we should probably get you home to your Mommy and Daddy, shouldn't we, Gilbert? I presume you're from the Mason village just up the river?"

He gave a hesitant nod, not so sure he wanted to go back after experiencing this splash of color and these warm feelings. "Yeah…but I want to stay here instead."

Emily frowned. "Why's that? Your parents are probably frantic right now! I'll walk you as far as I'm permitted to go and you will be home where you belong."

Gilbert took a step away, stubbornly determined not to wind up where he had started. "Daddy doesn't care and Mommy's in Heaven. She's always with me, so she's here too! Mommy is an angel. She tells me what to do and she says…she says stay here!"

The strange, beautiful woman gave a soft smile. "Oh? I'd love to welcome you, as I'm sure Mattie would, but I must return you to your village. You won't be safe here. If I were to take a Mason, even a baby one, home with me, we might be punished. Do you understand, sweetie? Have you learned about the rivalry in school?"

"I don't go to school. Daddy won't let me," he admitted. "The other kids hit me and call me names. Step- Mommy says it's 'cause I have freaky eyes!" To accent his point, he grabbed his eyelids and pulled them up. "And weird hair! And I'm smaller than them! But it's okay. I like to play all day!"

She smiled again at his innocence, putting the weight of the clothing on one hip and taking Gilbert's grimy hand with the other. "Well, I don't see anything wrong with you, Gilbert. I think you're a very stunning young man. Don't you agree, Mattie? Isn't Gilbert wonderful?"

Matthew flushed, hiding behind his mother's dress and giving a timid nod.

"That's right," Emily laughed. "Never forget that! Now, let's hurry. We need to get you back to where you belong. The sun only stays up for so long, after all. We wouldn't want to be caught in the woods when night falls. There are scarier things than Masons and Druids out there."

With that chilling thought on all their minds, they hurried into the trees, Matthew and Emily singing a cheerful song that seemed to light the way through the shadows. Gilbert clutched the warm hand that held his tightly, not at all understanding why Emily was in such a hurry to get rid of him. Finally, he had been able to see the sun that was make-believe in his village. He had seen beautiful colors, all of the rainbow that had never once entered his dreams. Where before he dreamed in monochrome, now he was sure he would see the green of the grasses, the flowers, and the impossibly deep blue of eyes shining in sunlight. Why was he letting her take that away from him?

He kicked stones into the river as they walked along its edge, occasionally staring down into his reflection like he had always liked to do. Emily had called him stunning. And Mattie had agreed. Grinning ear to ear, he looked back over to his new friends, who were still singing like it was as natural as breathing. They were prettier than the people in his village, just like the field that they had been sitting in. Their smiles and happiness made him feel safe, much safer than when he was with his mean family at home. Content, he started skipping, only to be stopped when the trees disappeared and Emily released his hand. Looking around himself in confusion, Gilbert found that the colors were gone; he was once again in the darkness.


	2. Learning the Drill

Even now Gilbert could still remember the trek he'd made alone through the fields of withered wheat, hauling his clothes basket in one hand and trying to push his way through the taller plants with the other. He'd known his way home, and had quickly returned back, sopping wet and hoping that somebody would have missed him. Instead, his father and step-mom had scolded him for tracking mud and water inside and then had chastised him again for taking so long that they had 'started to get worried.' It had been like hopping the border from heaven to hell; one minute, he'd happily held the hand of a wonderful person, and the next…Grounded to his room for eternity. The only good thing that had come from the experience was that his father had decided it was time to give him some schooling so that he would have less time on his hands to screw things up. So he had hired a local tutor to come over for several hours each day and teach Gilbert all about what it meant to be a man and a Mason.

It was then that Gil learned what the rivalry was all about. Druids were the enemies, a secret group that rarely showed themselves.

The feud was hundreds of years old, since mortals had begun creating…which in turn began destruction. Those mortals that took creation as their sole purpose quickly branched off from normal, human society and became the founding fathers of the Free Masons that existed today. However, their craftsmanship did not go unopposed by those who saw the wrong in what the Masons were doing. The Druids were the children of the Earth, who lived only pursuing harmony and preserving the original state that had existed before the Masons had come in. They were immortal magic-users that threw everything they had into nature and lived life as subtly as each breeze that blew through the air. It was their God-given duty to save the things that the mortals destroyed, or so that was how they saw it. Masonic teaching had a much more hideous, savage view of them, depicting them as those who wanted to destroy humanity itself.

It was all very dull. History was for losers. Gilbert yawned, laying his head down on his textbook and staring outside through the study window. Ten years hadn't changed this village at all…the sun was no closer to peeking around that mist. It was like it knew that the moment it did, it would burn these sorry, pathetic Masons alive. A string of drool rolled out the side of his mouth as he gaped at the people scuttling by, their faces stern and frowning, as usual. Did nobody smile here? Gilbert scowled, thinking hard about it. The only smiles he had ever seen were on those of sneering children. Cruel, sick smiles as they insulted him, pushed him, slandered him. Most of that had ended once the children of the village had reached high classes and been exposed to the teachings of the church, but occasionally he would still wake up to find that someone had smothered hate markings on his window while he slept.

"Doesn't matter," he reassured himself quietly. "I don't care. They're just jealous that one day I'm going to be the awesome leader of this village! I'll name it Gilbertopia and then make them all leave. Oh, but first…I have to find a sexy, big boobied woman so that I can repopulate!"

Interrupting his plans, a sharp knock sounded at the door. "Gilbert, Mom says it's time for you to go to training," Ludwig said. "Are you sleeping? Don't tell me you forgot again."

Gilbert made a face. Ludwig was only ten, but somehow…he acted like he was already an adult. Gil could count the amount of times his brother had thrown a fit in his life on one hand. He was such a stick in the ass suck up. Wiping the drool away from his lip, Gilbert threw the door open and glared at the cretin that had stolen his life away. With every day that passed, Ludwig seemed to get taller and taller….he barely had to look down at his little brother anymore to make eye contact. That pissed Gilbert off even more. Why wouldn't he stop growing?! And he barely ever got sick! Clearly, Ludwig was some form of robot that had come from outer space and been mechanized to be a total dickface.

"The awesome me didn't forget!" he denied, though he had.

Ludwig's freakish blue eyes gazed at him, clearly seeing through the lie. "I got your stuff together," he said, holding up Gilbert's training bag and sword. "I made some snacks today, so I put a few in there for you."

To hide his embarrassment, Gil gave a smirk and snatched his things out of Ludwig's hands. "What, you're learning to cook? That's so girly. Only girls cook!"

"And men who want to be able to take care of themselves someday or survive in an emergency situation where there is no wife to cook home-cooked meals for him. It'll be useful one day, I already know that. It's common sense." Giving him that knowing look that irked Gilbert to no end, he turned and went back into the kitchen.

"You're a fucked up ten-year-old!" Gil shouted after him, throwing the bag across his shoulders and turning straight into the rather large chest of his father with an exclamation of shock. "EEP!"

Thick fingers dug into his shoulders and shoved him away, a disapproving grimace on the face of the man who Gilbert had been trying to please from the very start. "Perhaps you are just a fucked up sixteen-year-old. Don't pick on your brother. Aren't you supposed to be attending war training? If you don't hurry, you are going to be late."

He looked down at the ground, unable to keep the smirk from crawling onto his face. "As long as I run, there's no way my awesomeness will be late!"

A dark expression came over his father's face. "Gilbert, I have tried my very best to be patient with you, but I've had enough of your ridiculous egotism. Go to training. When you come home, your mother and I would like to talk to you about something." Having said his piece, he stormed around his son and into the kitchen where everyone else was.

Gilbert gave a defiant glare over his shoulder as he stalked out of the house, muttering, "She's not my mother."

Alone, he walked down the gray cobblestone roads to the center where they held classes for young soldiers in the community. Everyone was required to take them for at least one year when they reached sixteen, and then those who felt they were suited to participate in wars would stay in training until they were deemed skilled enough to become a member of the army. Of course, Gilbert was going to be one of those. He had already decided from the moment he'd picked up a sword that he would leave the village and valiantly careen into battle, cutting down all the Druids in his path. He was already an expert swordsman from private lessons, and he had no trouble keeping up with all the other losers in his class, so he had immediately deemed himself the war general of awesome.

Confidently, he strode through the halls of the arena, a smirk on his face as he thought of how he would totally make everyone else look like crying little babies today…until he found the door of the training room they had been assigned to practice in today was already closed and locked. "Hello?" he asked, banging on it. "Open the door! The war general has arrived!" He fell quiet for a moment, listening to the sounds of chinking swords and spirited yells echoing through the room before slamming his fists against the wooden panels again. "Open the fucking door! Let me in!"

When there was no response, he slid down the wall to the floor, crossing his arms with a grimace. He hadn't been that late…If it had been anyone else, they probably would have waited just a few more minutes for him. But it had been him, which meant they could do anything they pleased. It was hard to be a war general sometimes. Especially when your soldiers were super self-righteous buttholes. Taking out his sword, Gilbert dragged it across the stone floors, pretending to be writing out a battle plan for his soldiers to follow.

"Why don't you just practice the drills alone?"

He looked up in surprise, quickly masking any vulnerability with an egotistical smile when he saw who it was. "Because I'm so awesome that I don't need to practice, unlike weak girls like who can barely hold their swords!" he sneered, standing up and scowling at Elizaveta.

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "You know, you wouldn't be sitting out here all alone like this if you could just show up on time for once. You're lucky I came along." She held up a key, heading toward the door. "You aren't always going to have someone who bails you out, Gilbert. If you really want to be a war general, you have to start acting like one! You still act like a child."

"At least the awesome me has always known his gender, even as a gilbaby," he snickered as he followed her, pulling his bag back on his shoulder.

With reflexes that only an angry woman could possess, Elizaveta flung her arm back and smacked Gilbert across the head. "I was just a little girl!" she insisted, unsheathing her sword and spinning around to face him. "You thought I was a boy at first, too, dummy. Now draw your weapon and spar me so that people can stop staring at us."

Looking away awkwardly, Gilbert pulled out his sword, and soon they blended in with everyone else in the room, gracefully dancing around each other… just inches from death, they swung their blades skillfully. As they moved, Gilbert couldn't stop his eyes from wandering across Elizaveta's womanly parts, her hair blowing across her shoulders, the determination in her eyes as she violently stabbed out at him. There had always been a weird feeling of happiness in his chest when he bothered her, even when they had just been babies and she had thrown rocks at him like everyone else. After a few years, when the physical violence had stopped, Gilbert had even gone out and played with some of the other kids on good days. They had stopped hitting him, which had made him less wary, but they had still picked him last for teams or fed him the icky snacks that nobody else wanted to eat or given him the bad markers that smelled. The only one who had ever made sure he got to play at all was Elizaveta, and a lot of times she had given him her snack when she wasn't hungry or let him share her scented markers.

He'd decided being around her was a good feeling…even if he would never admit it to her.

"For someone who's been training their whole life, your movements are still pretty choppy," Elizaveta teased. "I know you can do better than that."

"Your face is choppy!" Gilbert retaliated, swinging his sword at the flower in her hair. "_Kesesese_~!"

She ducked, causing him to miss her head by a good couple of inches, and slashed her blade across his jacket. The fabric tore open with a ripping noise, falling off of his shoulders and revealing the light blue t-shirt he had been wearing underneath. Despite not having been actually cut, his hand went up to the slice. His heart was pounding hard enough that he could feel it in his temples, though he wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline or the triumphant smirk of the woman in front of him that was making it so difficult to catch his breath. She smiled like an avenging angel and struck again, despite the fact that Gilbert had not yet recovered from the loss of his coat. It was all he could do to hop out of the way in time, which left him unbalanced; his ankle twisted funny and he careened to his butt, bewildered.

Elizaveta laughed a bit too loudly, pointing her weapon at his chest. "You should see your face! That's why you should always wear proper sparring equipment. It's not like you didn't have plenty of time to change into it sitting out in the hall like a loser anyway."

"Always useless," Gilbert heard Roderick mutter snobbishly to the boy standing next to him. "He can't even beat a girl. Why did I have to be born the cousin to such a pointless being?"

Insulted, Gilbert got to his feet, striding over to Roderick with the cockiest grin he could manage and grabbing him by the gay scarf thingy. "It must be such a shame to tell people you're related to the awesome me. Or maybe you just feel threatened because my position is so much higher than yours! What an ass! You look like a total asshole!"

"Release me, you testosterone-riddled animal," he replied calmly, his amethyst eyes cold. "You have no excuse to be putting your filthy hands on the likes of me. Our society doesn't need undesirables such as you. Your father should have allowed you to drown in that river ten years ago."

"Roderick!" Elizaveta protested. "How can you be so cruel to your own family? Sure, Gilbert is a bit of a troublemaker, but that doesn't make him any less of a person. Besides, he's a much better swordsman than you are."

Roderick seemed unaffected by her comment, saying, "Indeed. I never claimed to be a good swordsman. Now if you would be so kind to release my ascot…"

For some reason, Gilbert let him go, though the urge to punch him in his four-eyed face had caused his fingers to curl into a fist. "You're a faggot! Now spar with me!"

Roderick took a moment to wipe invisible dirt off of his clothes, straightening the scarf and taking a cleansing breath of air before regarding his cousin again. "Not a chance. I refuse to waste my time rambling about like a caveman with you."

"You're just scared because you suck balls at fighting!" Gilbert baited angrily, wanting an excuse to smack the holier-than-thou attitude right out of Roderick's everything.

Oddly enough, he took it…and then proceeded to tear Gil apart. "I would much rather be an unskilled fighter than someone like you who is poisoning our village with disgusting genes. No one in their right mind is ever going to marry and have children with you, even despite your high status in the town. That makes it all the more pathetic, though, does it not? Even you yourself are aware that you never should have been born. I have no earthly idea why you haven't taken your own life already."

There it was. The truth of what everyone thought of him, blaring in his face and re-opening old wounds that had never really closed to begin with. Slowly, softly, they had continued bleeding over the years, life trickling out in a thin stream and draining him of his will. When he was a baby, it was easy to cast away the thoughts everyone else had and keep on playing with the friends he created who would never hurt him, who would always love him because that was how he had wanted them to be. But now, there was no hiding behind the walls of innocence. There was only rage at a world where he would never fit in, a puzzle piece haphazardly thrown into the wrong box by mistake. Rage, and horrible loneliness, because he knew his cousin was right. He would never be loved. He would never be wanted. Nobody would ever really want his gilbabies.

"You're wrong." A single voice, a strong voice. Elizaveta's voice, cutting through the pain and lifting Gilbert back up again. "Gilbert isn't going to be alone forever. He doesn't know it yet, but his parents have had him arranged to marry a girl in this town since he was born….and yes, in case you're wondering, that girl is me. I've known since I was a little girl that our parents had agreed for us to be together and run this village. When I was small, I treated him badly just like everybody else, because that's what I thought I was supposed to do. But I'm older now, and I can see clearly the damage we've done to him. Gilbert is no monster; he's just another human being, with feelings and dreams and needs. And someday, he's going to be my husband."

Awed, Gil could only stare at her just like everybody else, his heartbeat slowly beginning to pick up with every second this news was allowed to sink in. Without his knowledge, his life had already been assured from the beginning. Though his father despised him, he had taken care of him. An unwelcome flush of happiness seeped across his translucent cheeks, so obvious against his paleness that it made him blush even more to know everyone could see it. He was embarrassed….but in a way he had never been before. It was his fear that they could all hear his heart pounding away in his chest, or somehow see that his fake egotism had been momentarily cast aside. Someday, he would get to hold Elizaveta like he had wanted to while they were training and call her his wife. He hoped that day was coming sooner rather than later. It was all made even better by the fact that he knew Roderick had always had a thing for her.

He turned to Roderick with a smile full of vengeance and contempt. "Now who's going to end up alone? You really are such an ass!"

After training, Gilbert and Elizaveta walked home together for the very first time, neither one really caring about the looks that were cast at them, not even when Elizaveta reached up to take Gilbert's hand and entwine it with her own. He looked down at her, surprised, but she just smiled up at him with a silent shrug. It was the only time Gilbert had ever held the hand of a girl his age. The softness of her skin was unexpected, since Elizaveta was a warrior, and yet the warmth seemed just right for her. It matched the peaceful feeling of her smile that always made Gilbert feel safe when he was being antagonized. She was beautiful, and now somehow, she was going to be his. Peering up at him with green eyes, she laughed.

"It's like your dirty dreams come true, isn't it? To have a girl who actually wants to be with you?"

He smirked, trying to avoid looking at her too long for fear of screwing up his words. "Maybe, except the girl in my awesome dirty dreams usually has bigger boobies than you do."

She frowned for a second, looking down at her chest for a second before smacking him on the back of the head and saying, "You can't have everything. Besides, there's nothing wrong with my boobs and I'm sure you've noticed that on your own by now. Like I haven't realized you've checked me out before."

Had she really seen him do that? Brushing it off, he changed the subject quickly. "How come you never said anything about this engagement thingy before now?"

"Well…I hated my parents for it at first, to be honest. It took time to allow myself to realize you were actually worth falling for all along," she said, nudging him in the side with her elbow. "I'll admit, I threw a fit at having to marry the village weirdo back when I thought a better offer would come riding into my life on a black horse. But now, I see it more as luck, because my life with the village weirdo will never be as boring as it would have been with Mister Knight-In-Shining-Armor."

Gilbert's heart did a double-take and he squeezed her hand tighter. "Yeah, I totally blew that bitch out of the water with my awesome."

Her smile, the one that made Gilbert feel like he wasn't alone, flickered back onto her face. "Why are you so obsessed with saying the word awesome? I've always wanted to ask you that."

For a second he froze, his mind going completely blank. "Uh…." He had never thought about it before, but now he was beginning to realize things he had been trying to suppress. It was obvious to him that when he was little, it had been a defense mechanism against the verbal abuse and that eventually over time it had become a tic that he had almost no control over. But that wasn't the kind of thing somebody just spouted to their newfound fiancée, so he just laughed like he always did and said, "Because it's true!"

Thankfully for him, Elizaveta was intuitive enough to know she should leave the topic alone. "Hey, are you busy tomorrow? I want to practice with you. I found this great place and I've been wanting to show it to someone for a really long time."

He shook his head, not stopping to think if he actually had anything planned because even if he did, he was going to go with her anyway. Everybody else could just shove it up their smelly asses. He was going on a date. It was so far out of the realm of anything he'd been able to imagine, he couldn't even picture in his head what they were going to do. It didn't matter. Getting out of that stifling house was all he wanted each and every day of his life.

"Great! It's in a very secret location though, so you can't tell anybody where we went. Maybe we should make it a picnic, too! I'll make us some lunch and bring it with me!" As she pretended to ponder that, she leaned over and whispered into Gil's ear, "By secret location, I mean it's in Druid territory. You still in?"

"Of course. I'm not a sissy baby," he responded immediately, trying not to focus too hard on the breath brushing across his ear. "Druids don't scare me. Besides, I've been on their land before." It was a vague memory, but he could still remember the sunshine, the colors that had brightened his world that day when he'd fallen into the river. He had told no one about that before.

"Really? When?"

It wasn't a shining moment, so he really didn't want to tell her…but he would make an exception. "When I fell into the river, it swept me downstream to this super sexy place where there was actually a sun and flowers and stuff."

Fascination in her eyes, Elizaveta kept asking questions even though they had made it to her house and the darkness was just about to overtake them. "Did you meet anybody when you were there? I've seen the beauty of the land, but never have come across an actual Druid, no matter how much I've searched."

This was the part where his memories were blurry. He could recall that someone had to have ripped him out of the water, since he had almost drowned, yet trying to put faces to the few words he remembered was impossible. It had happened too long ago, and it frustrated him that he couldn't give her more details despite having been through the experience before. Gilbert nodded, his eyebrows creasing as he thought hard.

"Someone pulled me out of the water and brought me home, but I can't remember anymore."

"That's okay. Well…I'll see you tomorrow, then!" she said cheerfully, giving him a peck on the cheek before going inside.

His hand drifted to the spot as he walked home, his mind filled with all kinds of conflicting thoughts about Elizaveta and his experience with the Druids that escaped his memory. Throwing open the door so that it made a dent in the wall, he sat down and shucked his muddy boots across his stepmom's carpet, barely thinking about the destructive path he was making while he did it. Of course, St. Ludwig had to be standing there watching him, though he didn't seem in a hurry to go and rat him out. As usual, he would just stare disapprovingly at Gil while he did bad things and chastise him like that was his job.

"Mom and Dad want to talk to you in the kitchen," was all he said before heading off to go be a prick somewhere else.

Gilbert made a face after him, sliding across the floor into what seemed to always be the family meeting place. "What is it?" he demanded, sitting down at the table where they already were. "What did I do now?"

"Nothing, to my knowledge," his father grumbled, like he didn't want to know what kind of trouble his son had caused. "This is a good thing for once. You know as the village leader's firstborn son, you have certain duties that you will someday uphold in my place…"

"_Kesesese_~…duties," Gilbert chuckled immaturely, just to piss them both off.

"…when you're a mature man. And for that reason, when you were a baby, we selected a wife for you from the village with good blood that will help you lead. Her name is Elizaveta...I'm positive that you two have met. We're choosing to tell you about this now because of the dire situation that has arisen between us and the Druids lately. We're going to war, Gilbert, and I need you to be ready to act as my heir in case I don't make it through."

Gilbert gave another laugh, turning away from him to face out the window. "Elizaveta and my awesomeness are going on a date tomorrow."

He seemed surprised that Gil had known, but shook his head and said, "That's great, but I don't need you to just date. There's no time for that. By the end of next week, you two are going to have to be married."

**Hi everyone :) Thanks for reading my story, hope you're enjoying it so far!**


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